CHICAGO (AP) - Back from a long and successful road trip and playing on home ice for the first time in 16 days, the Chicago Blackhawks were nearly lulled into a false sense of security.
Looking strong with a 5-1 lead, the defending Stanley Cup champions eventually needed late goals from young stars Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews to hold off a determined rally by the St. Louis Blues for a 7-5 victory Tuesday night.
"It's easy to feel you're losing the game all of a sudden. The momentum swung so much in their favor," Toews said after Chicago improved to 6-7 at home.
"It was a huge difference from when we've been there before, when we've given away games in our own building. Everybody on the bench was positive. ... But you shouldn't have to score five, six, seven goals to win."
Kane scored on a rebound off a shot by Viktor Stalberg with 6:18 left to put the Blackhawks up 6-4. Toews then added his second power-play goal of the night about 2 minutes later to give Chicago a three-goal cushion on its way to a third straight win.
David Backes scored for St. Louis with 2:39 left, but the Blues couldn't come all the way back and lost their third consecutive game.
"We obviously needed to play a little bit longer before we gave up that sixth goal," Blues coach Davis Payne said. "We felt we were doing some things out there."
Tomas Kopecky had a goal and three assists and Troy Brouwer also scored for Chicago. Rookie goalie Corey Crawford ran his winning streak to five games, holding off the Blues' rally. He made 21 saves.
Patrik Berglund, Eric Brewer, Alex Pietrangelo and Brad Boyes scored goals for the Blues, while Backes and Vladimir Sobotka had three assists apiece.
"At that point you really have nothing to lose. You're down by four," Backes said of the Blues' rally. "You're in the new NHL and anything is possible. We've had teams come back on us. We showed a little bit of that, but kicked the offense a little too much and didn't continue to take care of our defensive zone."